Digital subscriber line

Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), the most commonly installed DSL technology, for Internet access. DSL service can be delivered simultaneously with wired telephone service on the same telephone line. This is possible because DSL uses higher frequency bands for data. On the customer premises, a DSL filter on each non-DSL outlet blocks any high-frequency interference to enable simultaneous use of the voice and DSL services.

The bit rate of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256 kbit/s to over 100 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer (downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. Bit rates of 1 Gbit/s have been reached in trials,[1] but most homes are likely to be limited to 500-800 Mbit/s. In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction (the direction to the service provider) is lower, hence the designation of asymmetric service. In symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) services, the downstream and upstream data rates are equal. Researchers at Bell Labs have reached speeds of 10 Gbit/s, while delivering 1 Gbit/s symmetrical broadband access services using traditional copper telephone lines. These higher speeds are lab results, however.[2][3][4] A 2012 survey found that "DSL continues to be the dominant technology for broadband access" with 364.1 million subscribers worldwide.[5]

For a long time it was thought that it was not possible to operate a conventional phone-line beyond low-speed limits (typically under 9600 bit/s). In the 1950s, ordinary twisted-pair telephone-cable often carried four megahertz (MHz) television signals between studios, suggesting that such lines would allow transmitting many megabits per second. One such circuit in the UK ran some ten miles (16 km) between the BBC studios in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Pontop Pike transmitting station. It was able to give the studios a low quality cue feed but not one suitable for transmission.[citation needed] However, these cables had other impairments besides Gaussian noise, preventing such rates from becoming practical in the field.

Joseph W. Lechleider's contribution to DSL was his insight that an asymmetric arrangement offered more than double the bandwidth capacity of symmetric DSL.[9] This allowed Internet service providers to offer efficient service to consumers, who benefited greatly from the ability to download large amounts of data but rarely needed to upload comparable amounts. ADSL supports two modes of transport—fast channel and interleaved channel. Fast channel is preferred for streaming multimedia, where an occasional dropped bit is acceptable, but lags are less so. Interleaved channel works better for file transfers, where the delivered data must be error-free but latency (time delay) incurred by the retransmission of error-containing packets is acceptable.

A DSL connection can be deployed over existing cable. Such deployment, even including equipment, is much cheaper than installing a new, high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable over the same route and distance. This is true both for ADSL and SDSL variations. The commercial success of DSL and similar technologies largely reflects the advances made in electronics over the decades that have increased performance and reduced costs even while digging trenches in the ground for new cables (copper or fiber optic) remains expensive.

In the case of ADSL, competition in Internet access caused subscription fees to drop significantly over the years, thus making ADSL more economical than dial up access. Telephone companies were pressured into moving to ADSL largely due to competition from cable companies, which use DOCSIS cable modem technology to achieve similar speeds. Demand for high bandwidth applications, such as video and file sharing, also contributed to popularize ADSL technology.

Early DSL service required a dedicated dry loop, but when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required ILECs to lease their lines to competing DSL service providers, shared-line DSL became available. Also known as DSL over Unbundled Network Element, this unbundling of services allows a single subscriber to receive two separate services from two separate providers on one cable pair. The DSL service provider's equipment is co-located in the same central office (telephone exchange) as that of the ILEC supplying the customer's pre-existing voice service. The subscriber's circuit is rewired to interface with hardware supplied by the ILEC which combines a DSL frequency and POTS signals on a single copper pair facility.

By 2012 some carriers in the United States reported that DSL remote terminals with fiber backhaul are replacing older ADSL systems.[11]

Telephones are connected to the telephone exchange via a local loop, which is a physical pair of wires. The local loop was originally intended mostly for the transmission of speech, encompassing an audio frequency range of 300 to 3400 hertz (voiceband or commercial bandwidth). However, as long-distance trunks were gradually converted from analog to digital operation, the idea of being able to pass data through the local loop (by utilizing frequencies above the voiceband) took hold, ultimately leading to DSL.

The local loop connecting the telephone exchange to most subscribers has the capability of carrying frequencies well beyond the 3.4 kHz upper limit of POTS. Depending on the length and quality of the loop, the upper limit can be tens of megahertz. DSL takes advantage of this unused bandwidth of the local loop by creating 4312.5 Hz wide channels starting between 10 and 100 kHz, depending on how the system is configured. Allocation of channels continues at higher and higher frequencies (up to 1.1 MHz for ADSL) until new channels are deemed unusable. Each channel is evaluated for usability in much the same way an analog modem would on a POTS connection. More usable channels equates to more available bandwidth, which is why distance and line quality are a factor (the higher frequencies used by DSL travel only short distances). The pool of usable channels is then split into two different frequency bands for upstream and downstream traffic, based on a preconfigured ratio. This segregation reduces interference. Once the channel groups have been established, the individual channels are bonded into a pair of virtual circuits, one in each direction. Like analog modems, DSL transceivers constantly monitor the quality of each channel and will add or remove them from service depending on whether they are usable. Once upstream and downstream circuits are established, a subscriber can connect to a service such as an Internet service provider or other network services, like a corporate MPLS network.

The underlying technology of transport across DSL facilities uses high-frequency sinusoidalcarrier wave modulation, which is an analog signal transmission. A DSL circuit terminates at each end in a modem which modulates patterns of bits into certain high-frequency impulses for transmission to the opposing modem. Signals received from the far-end modem are demodulated to yield a corresponding bit pattern that the modem retransmits, in digital form, to its interfaced equipment, such as a computer, router, switch, etc.

Unlike traditional dial-up modems, which modulate bits into signals in the 300–3400 Hz baseband (voice service), DSL modems modulate frequencies from 4000 Hz to as high as 4 MHz. This frequency band separation enables DSL service and plain old telephone service (POTS) to coexist on the same copper pair facility. On the subscriber's end of the circuit, inline low-passDSL filters (splitters) are installed on each telephone to filter the high-frequency signals that would otherwise be heard as hiss, but pass voice frequencies. Conversely, high-pass filters already incorporated in the circuitry of DSL modems filter out voice frequencies. Although ADSL and RADSL modulations do not use the voice-frequency band, nonlinear elements in the phone could otherwise generate audible intermodulation and may impair the operation of the data modem in the absence of low-pass filters.

A DSL modem

Because DSL operates above the 3.4 kHz voice limit, it cannot pass through a load coil, which is an inductive coil that is designed to counteract loss caused by shunt capacitance (capacitance between the two wires of the twisted pair). Load coils are commonly set at regular intervals in lines placed only for POTS. A DSL signal cannot pass through a properly installed and working load coil, while voice service cannot be maintained past a certain distance without such coils. Therefore, some areas that are within range for DSL service are disqualified from eligibility because of load coil placement. Because of this, phone companies endeavor to remove load coils on copper loops that can operate without them, and by conditioning other lines to avoid them through the use of fiber to the neighborhood or node (FTTN).

Most residential and small-office DSL implementations reserve low frequencies for POTS, so that (with suitable filters and/or splitters) the existing voice service continues to operate independent of the DSL service. Thus POTS-based communications, including fax machines and analog modems, can share the wires with DSL. Only one DSL modem can use the subscriber line at a time. The standard way to let multiple computers share a DSL connection uses a router that establishes a connection between the DSL modem and a local Ethernet, Powerline, or Wi-Fi network on the customer's premises.

The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.(November 2010)

A naked DSL (also known as standalone or dry loop DSL) is a way of providing DSL services without a PSTN (analoguetelephony) service. It is useful when the customer does not need the traditional telephony voice service because voice service is received either on top of the DSL services (usually VoIP) or through another network (mobile telephony).

It is also commonly called a "UNE" (for Unbundled Network Element) in the United States; in Australia it is known as a "ULL" (Unconditioned Local Loop).,[12] in Belgium it is known as "Raw Copper" and in Turkey it's known as "Yalın Internet" [13] It started making a comeback in the United States in 2004 when Qwest started offering it, closely followed by Speakeasy. As a result of AT&T's merger with SBC,[14] and Verizon's merger with MCI,[15] those telephone companies have an obligation to offer naked DSL to consumers.

In Turkey, since 2011, telephone companies are obliged to offer naked DSL as a result of consumer pressure to the regulatory bodies,[16][17] however companies can incur additional fees under various label, such as circuit preparation service (devre hazırlama ücreti) or an additional naked DSL fee (yalın adsl ücreti). Although circuit preparation service fee is one-time, the latter is recurring and can constitute as much as 20% of the monthly bill.[18][19][20]

Even without the regulatory mandate, however, many ILECs offered naked DSL to consumers. The number of telephone landlines in the United States dropped from 188 million in 2000 to 115 million in 2010, while the number of cellular subscribers has grown to 277 million (as of 2010).[21] This lack of demand for landline voice services has resulted in the expansion of naked DSL availability.

Naked DSL products are also marketed in some other countries e.g., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.[citation needed]

On the customer side, the DSL Transceiver, or ATU-R, or more commonly known as a DSL modem, is hooked up to a phone line. The telephone company connects the other end of the line to a DSLAM, which concentrates a large number of individual DSL connections into a single box. The location of the DSLAM depends on the telco, but it cannot be located too far from the user because of attenuation between the DSLAM and the user's DSL modem. It is common for a few residential blocks to be connected to one DSLAM.

The accompanying figure is a schematic of a simple DSL connection (in blue). The right side shows a DSLAM residing in the telephone company's central office. The left side shows the customer premises equipment with an optional router. This router manages a local area network (LAN) off of which are connected some number of PCs. With many service providers, the customer may opt for a modem which contains a wireless router. This option (within the dashed bubble) often simplifies the connection.

At the exchange, a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) terminates the DSL circuits and aggregates them, where they are handed off to other networking transports. In the case of ADSL, the voice component is also separated at this step, either by a filter integrated in the DSLAM or by a specialized filtering equipment installed before it. The DSLAM terminates all connections and recovers the original digital information.

The customer end of the connection consists of a terminal adaptor or "DSL modem". This converts data between the digital signals used by computers and the voltage signal of a suitable frequency range which is then applied to the phone line.

DSL Modem schematic

In some DSL variations (for example, HDSL), the terminal adapter connects directly to the computer via a serial interface, using protocols such as ethernet or V.35. In other cases (particularly ADSL), it is common for the customer equipment to be integrated with higher level functionality, such as routing, firewalling, or other application-specific hardware and software. In this case, the equipment is referred to as a "gateway".

Most DSL technologies require installation of appropriate filters to separate, or "split", the DSL signal from the low-frequency voice signal. The separation can take place either at the demarcation point, or with filters installed at the telephone outlets inside the customer premises. Each way has its practical and economic limitations.

When the DSL modem powers up it goes through a series of steps to establish connections. The actual process varies from modem to modem but generally involves the following steps:

The DSL transceiver performs a self-test.

The DSL transceiver then attempts to synchronize with the DSLAM. Data can only come into the computer when the DSLAM and the modem are synchronized. The synchronization process is relatively quick (in the range of seconds) but is very complex, involving extensive tests that allow both sides of the connection to optimize the performance according to the characteristics of the line in use. External, or standalone modem units have an indicator labeled "CD", "DSL", or "LINK", which can be used to tell if the modem is synchronized. During synchronization the light flashes; when synchronized, the light stays lit, usually with a green color.

The DSL transceiver checks the connection between the DSL transceiver and the computer. For residential variations of DSL, this is usually the Ethernet (RJ-45) port or a USB port; in rare models, a FireWire port is used. Older DSL modems sported a native ATM interface (usually, a 25 Mbit/s serial interface). Also, some variations of DSL (such as SDSL) use synchronous serial connections.

Modern DSL gateways have more functionality and usually go through an initialization procedure very similar to a PC boot up. The system image is loaded from the flash memory; the system boots, synchronizes the DSL connection and establishes the IP connection between the local network and the service provider, using protocols such as DHCP or PPPoE. (According to a 2007 book, the PPPoE method far outweighed DHCP in terms of deployment on DSL lines, and PAP was the predominant form of subscriber authentication used in such circumstances.)[22] The system image can usually be updated to correct bugs, or to add new functionality.

ISDN digital subscriber line (IDSL), ISDN based technology that provides a bitrate equivalent to two ISDN bearer and one data channel, 144 kbit/s symmetric over one pair

High bit rate digital subscriber line (HDSL), ITU-T G.991.1, the first DSL technology that used a higher frequency spectrum than ISDN, 1,544 kbit/s and 2,048 kbit/s symmetric services, either on 2 or 3 pairs at 784 kbit/s each, 2 pairs at 1,168 kbit/s earch, or one pair at 2,320 kbit/s

Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2), ITU-T G.993.2, an improved version of VDSL, compatible with ADSL2+, sum of both directions up to 200 Mbit/s. G.vector crosstalk cancelling feature (ITU-T G.993.5) can be used to increase range at a given bitrate, e.g. 100 Mbit/s at up to 500 meters.[23]

G.fast, ITU-T G.9700 and G.9701,[24] up to approximately 1 Gbit/s aggregate uplink and downlink at 100m.[25] Approved in December 2014, deployments planned for 2016.[26][27]

The line-length limitations from telephone exchange to subscriber impose severe limits on data transmission rates. Technologies such as VDSL provide very high-speed but short-range links. VDSL is used as a method of delivering "triple play" services (typically implemented in fiber to the curb network architectures).